The other two entries in the Nick Carter detective series focused on spies or Fifth Columnists; this one is about an evil insurance scam whereby cargo ships, with their crews, are blown up. Llewelyn's of London, the insurer of the ships, hires Carter to investigate. Joseph Schildkraut as the suave but vicious gangster leader behind the bombings easily outshines the rather uninspiring performance of Walter Pidgeon as Nick Carter. The most striking scene in the whole movie is the brief scene showing the crew of the cargo ship amiably chatting with one another moments before their ship is blown up. An incredible scene. As with the other two entries in the series, this one has an excellent supporting cast with Florence Rice, John Carroll, Nat Pendleton, Cecil Kellaway, and Schildkraut. Donald Meek is on hand as Carter's sidekick, the wacky Mr. Bartholomew. It's a matter of taste whether one finds the Bartholomew character annoying or welcome comedic relief. Either way, he certainly is a memorable character. I think this is the best of the Nick Carter movies and certainly worth a watch, but the series itself is not as good or entertaining as many another B detective series.

***SPOILERS*** The high flying Walter Piedgon is NYC ace detective Nick Carter who gets himself involved in an elaborate and deadly insurance fraud scheme engineered by US gangster Al Taurez, Joseph Schildkraut,south, way south, of the border in Panama.After having a number of ships's valuable cargoes, which are nothing but a bunch of sandbags, heavily insured Taruez has, from the comfort of his Colon Panama office, through high frequency radio singles set off bombs planted in the ships and have them blown up together with their crew on the high seas!It's Nick together with his side kick the Bee-Man Bartholomew, Donald Meeks, as well as his Panamanian girlfriend B-girl Delorous (Steffi Duna), who doesn't speak a word of proper English, who eventually solves the case. But not after some half dozen ships are sent to the bottom by Taurez and his hoods. Nick who at first didn't want to take on the case since he was on vacation at the time changed his mind when he spotted, after she had it out with him, pretty Cara Barnes, Florence Riuce, working at the local Morris Shipping Company. In fact it was Cora who was unknowingly used by Taurez in providing him with the information of what ships,and how heavily insured they were, were being sent out to sea. Where he then had his men plant explosives on so that he he could later,with high frequency radio waves, detonate them and collect, with an insider inside the shipping company, the insurance on them!***SPOILERS*** Nick in finding the contraption that Taurez is using to electronically blow up the targeted ships has it disarmed and tricks Taurez into getting on the one that's next to be blown up.Taurez, with Nick holding a gun on him, realizing that he's cooked if he doesn't get off the ship before midnight the time its set to explode breaks down and admits his crimes not knowing that the ship that he and Nick were on was no longer in danger of exploding! What he also should have realized is that Nick wouldn't have put his own life as well as everyone on board in danger if he knew that in fact would happen!

Phantom Raiders was the second (the first being 1939 Nick Carter - Master Detective) and the last film directed by Jacques Tourneur about the adventures of a popular detective Nick Carter whose character was created still in the end of the 19th century and who served as a protagonist of several films before this one during the silent era. Here yet again Walter Pigeon plays the main part of invincible detective and is joined once more by his peculiar assistant Bartholomew known as the Bee-man (hilariously played by Donald Meek). They were destined to reunite only once again the same year as Phantom Raiders to film Sky Murder but this time under the direction of George Seitz. In Phantom Raiders Nick Carter answers the duty call while on vacation and is sent to Panama to investigate the mysterious sinking of several cargo ships near the Panama coast where he is joined by his eccentric assistant Bartholomew who as usually provides sometimes a valuable help and on other occasions creates havoc though always remaining handy. Soon they discover that a nightclub owner Al Taurez is involved, but very soon our heroes discover to their disappointment that he's a bit tougher then appears to be at first sight. A little weaker than its predecessor - Nick Carter-Master Detective, The Phantom Raiders is still a decent viewing experience. 6/10

If you're a fan of the old private dick movies from the 30s & 40s then I'll bet you a wooden nickel that you're gonna like this one. It has plenty of cliche's, but remember, when this film was new a lot of the plot devices were not quite so hackneyed. The use of lighting and shadow is nicely done noir, all in glorious black & white of course. Walter Pidgeon is fine as Nick Carter. This is apparently his second time playing the streetsmart, wry humored, skirt chasing gumshoe. The rest of the cast is just fine too. It's not Bogart, Astor, Greenstreet, & Lorre; but it was released a year before that film, against which all in this genre are inevitably compared to. I really liked Nat Pendleton as tough guy "Gunboat". To sum it up, I love the corny humor and tidy endings of the films from this era. That old timey slang really cracks me up too. Say you birds, give dis picture show an even break and don't take it too seriously... I wouldn't kid ya, I'm on da level here.